With Wales not there, one Swansea City fan has made his pilgrimage to the World Cup nonetheless and is sending us blog posts throughout the tournament

I spent the first few days in Sâo Paulo. One of the biggest cities in the World - never mind Brazil or South America.

After 25 hours travelling I arrived in Sâo Paulo on the last Monday, all bleary eyed. I always find it difficult to sleep on planes and the leg room on Iberia Airlines is non-existent!

As you may have heard there has been a tube strike in Sâo Paulo in protest of the World Cup and apparently traffic is chaotic at the best of times so it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get to my hostel when it should only take around a hour. At least the price was set before I got in.

Upon arriving at the hostel, I was greeted by the owner, Carlos, who had been expecting me. He was very friendly, spoke very good English and showed me around the hostel.

All I did was just relax and chat with the one other guy in the hostel from South Africa and the other worker Maria from Argentina, who is from the same city as Lionel Messi. (Rosairo). Unfortunately she doesn't know him personally.

Technically I am travelling 'alone' in Brazil, but back last year when I booked the trip I was in conversation with another Swans fan, Andrew Davies, (better known as Pele). We were both in Sâo Paulo at the same time and will also be in Rio de Janeiro at the same time in July.

Thankfully the tube strike was over, as I think I'd still be on the bus now. Credit to Maria at the hostel she couldn't do enough to help me.

So after nagivating the tube, with the help of my phone app. We both met up and went to the football museum (Estádio do Pacaembu) - where Corinthians used to play (they will now play at Arena Corinthians, where Brazil played Croatia).

It was a pretty good museum in fairness, similar to the one in Manchester, but in English! There was a good World Cup display on, showing all the goals from the various World Cups. I'm guessing quite informative but as I am unable to speak Portuguese I don't know.

Some guys from Al Jazeera television wanted to interview us, (I'm not sure why) about the museum. I blabbered something and finished the tour. There were so many media there, anyone would think there was a World Cup on!

In my hostel when I returned that evening were a Croatian couple (Lea and Marin), who were also going to the game against Brazil on the Thursday. What I love about staying in hostels is that you get to meet so many people from around the world.

There was also a Venezuelan in the room who wasn't a big fan of football, but had heard of ex-Swan Giovanni Savarese.

The next day I decided to do a walking tour, the Croatians said they'd come with me. So being the expert on the Sâo Paulo tube, they followed me to the location. I have been on a few walking tours in various cities before, but this one was ridiculous.

There were over a hundred people there. You couldn't hear what the guide was saying so in the end we went for food and wondered around the market. I tried an acai fruit (a fruit from the Amazon) drink, like a slush puppy - very nice and worth a try if you're ever in Brazil.

If you're still reading now, I'm surprised, but we are now at the day of the game. The Croatians in my room were very excited, not that I can relate to the feeling of my team playing in a World Cup. (One day I hope!).

I'd arranged to meet Andrew at noon Brazilian time (five hours before kick off), just so we didn't have another Napoli debacle and also to soak up the pre-match atmosphere.

I also have a reputation of getting to games early, so why break a tradition?

Ever since receiving my World Cup tickets I have been worried about losing them, checking they are there every five minutes. Added to the fact they are huge and can't be folded, say FIFA.

Getting to the Arena Corinthians stadium was very easy and non-stressful. It was around 10 tube stops away from the famous Paulista Avenue - the business side of the city.

If any of you went to the Olympic Stadium in London in 2012, the organisation was similar - probably the same at most major events but I haven't been to any before.

Volunteers pointing the way to the ground entrance, we just followed a sea of yellow. Meeting David Luiz's brother along the way (or so he said anyway).

There was airport style security before entering, but again it was hassle-free. We were in and I could relax that I didn't lose my ticket and I was looking forward to my first ever World Cup match - in Brazil as well. It was safe to say my excitement levels were building.

For the record, being in a ground three-and-a-half hours before kick-off is a new personal record for me!

I was personally impressed with 'Arena Corinthians' and I had a very good view from my vantage point, not too high up and not too low down. What was also good about the ground was you could, if you wanted to, walk around the whole of the inside of the stadium. Which is something you wouldn't be able to do back in the UK.

I have to admit I didn't really understand the opening ceremony and as I gather from reading Twitter, the sound wasn't very good in the ground or on the TV - though I'm used to that at the Liberty.

The atmosphere was building and it was very colourful with most people wearing yellow (me included). Finally the teams were out on the pitch and the noise from the home crowd was incredible for the Brazilian National Anthem.

I won't do a thorough match report, as I'm guessing you all watched it - or at least saw the highlights.

There was a deathly silence when Croatia took the lead through a Marcelo own goal. Though because there was no segregation there was not much singing from the Croatian fans after that unfortunately.

Brazil won and most people were happy, it wasnt a convincing performance from the hosts and they will have to play much better in the later rounds. But I guess it didn't really matter, Spain lost to Switzerland in their first game in 2010 and went onto win it.

The journey back to Paulista Avenue was very easy again and the locals were tooting their car horns and dancing in the street. The Croatians and the Brazilian fans getting along well too.

So my first World Cup experience. I can't complain at four goals and a Brazil win.

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